Monday Papers: Star analyst’s new fund raises $700m - money news

Financial Times

* Patrick Degorce, the ex-Merrill Lynch banker who co-founded activist manager The Childrens’ Investment Fund with Chris Hohn, has raised more than $700 million for his new hedge fund, Thélème Partners.

* Crédit Agricole has been accused of fraud by investors in three US subprime mortgage-backed investment products set up by the French bank that it is claimed were built to fail.

* The Express Rail Alliance - the losing bidder in one of the UK’s biggest train tenders - is considering legal action if Japan’s Hitachi wins orders to supply a heavily redesigned version.

* Balderton Capital and Index Ventures, the venture investors who backed Betfair, in its early days are hoping that British entrepreneurs will be inspired by its successful listing last week.

* LMAX, the financial trading spin-off from Betfair, is to launch on Monday promising to offer retail investors the same technological benefits that have reshaped institutional trading in recent years.

* Investors will soon have a new platform to sell some of the $20 billion-plus stakes in private equity funds that are expected to be traded next year, as Secondcap prepares to launch its online trading system in January.

* Italy’s big banks are shaping up to cut dividends sharply as they try to avoid joining the fledgling trend among European peers to raise fresh equity.

* Local authorities are considering securitising assets for the first time to plug pension-fund gaps and ease cash-flow constraints that have tightened in the wake of last week’s spending review.

* A tech fund duo at GLG are banking on the death of ‘Wintel’ and opportunities emerging from the technology, media and telecoms sector’s new ‘food chains’.

The Times

*  The British Bankers’ Association will report its latest mortgage approval figures today; analysts estimate that about 30,000 new home loans were approved in September.